Burning tires block Beirut Airport in Hezbollah stronghold

Over a hundred Dahiyeh residents used burning tires to block a public road leading to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport for around two hours on Friday in southern suburb of the capital, a Hezbollah stronghold.

The angry mob of 150 resorted to blocking the main roundabout of the Airport Highway with burning tires, reminiscent of the start of Hezbollah’s Beirut siege in May 2008. (more…)

Beirut residents block airport road over power cuts | Update

Update: Security forces extinguished the burning tires and re-opened access to the airport highway. Protesters then proceeded to block the Bir Hasan intersection with burning tires.

Lebanese citizens took to the streets on Friday to protest against the government’s recurring power outages. (more…)

Amid divisive politics, football unites Lebanon

The usually sleepy Lebanese mountain village of Bteghrine is bubbling with flag-fluttering football fever ahead of South Africa 2010, a welcome escape from often bitter local politics.

And the national colors of Brazil and Germany — rather than those of rival political camps in a country historically marred by internecine warfare — are everywhere in this village northeast of Beirut. (more…)

Lebanon needs to reduce debt by $23 billion

Lebanon should cut its public debt to about 80 percent of gross domestic product, from the current level of 147 percent, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius said. Mobius, who oversees about $34 billion in merging market assets as Templeton’s Singapore-based executive chairman, said he’s considering an investment in Lebanon’s banking and real estate industry this year. (more…)

Jumblatt: Trip to Syria “not the first nor the last”

MP Walid Jumblatt expressed satisfaction with his visit to Damascus, claiming it was both political and family in nature. The Druze leader said he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Associate Vice President Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nassif.

Jumblatt said in his visit to Damascus on Thursday was “not the first nor the last.” (more…)

AUB makes tuition and financial aid more accessible

The American University of Beirut is applying a new tuition policy for the entering undergraduate class of fall 2011.

“The announcement that AUB was changing its tuition and financial aid policies prompted a strong—and mostly peaceful—reaction from many AUB students, who demonstrated on campus … and expressed their dissatisfaction in other ways as well,” the university’s president, Peter Dorman, said in a statement. (more…)

UNIFIL: No sight of scud missiles

UNIFIL spokesman Niraj Singh stressed in an interview published Friday that U.N. peacekeepers have not spotted any “scud missiles” in their area of operation.

“UNIFIL has not seen any Scud missiles in its area of operation,” Singh told Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Singh described the situation on the southern border as “generally quiet,” pointing out that all concerned parties were cooperating to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. (more…)

Aoun attacks Geagea for exposing Hezbollah and Lebanon

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun criticized fellow Christian leader Samir Geagea in reaction to President Michel Suleiman’s latest statement on Hezbollah.

“These statements, indeed, expose Lebanon and give the enemy the right to do the work that is being done,” Aoun said in remarks published by the daily As-Safir on Friday in reference to remarks by Geagea without naming him.

“Lebanon is already exposed, and Hezbollah is trying to build a deterrent force to repel any attack on Lebanon,” he explained. (more…)

Lebanon Needs A Truth Commission

By Ghassan Karam
“If It ain’t broke don’t fix it” is an expression that has spread globally in a relatively short period of time, 33 years if one is to accept that its first popular use was in 1977.

Miss USA challenges Arab and Muslim stereotypes

As the first Muslim to be crowned Miss USA, Rima Fakih isn’t bothered by criticism that wearing bikinis and revealing clothing goes against the teachings of her religion.